New York-based private equity firm Veritas Capital announced this morning it is rebranding the Capital Services division of CB&I, which it acquired in a $755 million deal earlier this year.
The new name of the company, which maintains a large presence in Baton Rouge, is APTIM.
Veritas also announced a leadership change for its new portfolio company. Gary Baughman, who has nearly three decades of experience with several global engineering and construction companies, will replace E. Chip Ray as chief executive officer and a member of the company’s board of directors. Ray will remain with APTIM as a senior advisor through the end of the year.
When the deal was announced March 1, Veritas said Ray would stay on to run the company. In a statement this morning, Veritas CEO and Managing Partner Ramzi Musallam says Baughman is coming on to grow the company.
“With a passion for talent management and organizational development, Gary has been a driving force behind cultural transformation, leadership advancement, and strategic business expansion across many enterprises,” Musallam says in a prepared statement. “As we look to aggressively expand this platform, Gary will be responsible for driving market growth, service diversification, and technology implementation while ensuring that the integrity of customer service, so well-developed within the former Capital Services business, remains uncompromised.”
CB&I’s Capital Services division handles maintenance and environmental work, and the bulk of the company’s 1,500 Capital Services employees are based in Baton Rouge at the company’s Essen Lane office. Veritas officials suggested in March the company could grow its footprint in the environmental services area in particular, noting that the region’s focus on water management and control is well aligned with the company’s capabilities.
“Baton Rouge will remain a vital area of operations for the company, and we are committed to growing our presence there,” Musallam said at the time. “We expect that the business will increase jobs locally and provide economic development throughout the state.”
A spokesperson for Veritas could not say this morning what the rebranding and leadership change might mean for local employees or the Baton Rouge area.
—Stephanie Riegel
